An apparatus for mounting equipment on a waterborne vessel includes a base member configured to support an instrument. An elongate spacer arm is connected to the base member. A selectively deployable elongate transducer arm is pivotably coupled to the spacer arm. The transducer arm is configured to pivot between a deployed position and a stored position. The length of the transducer arm is at least sufficient for the transducer end to reach the water surface when the transducer arm is in the deployed position. The spacer arm is substantially parallel to or collinear with the transducer arm when the transducer arm is in the stored position, allowing the apparatus to be folded for compact storage.
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10. A method of using an equipment mount to deploy a transducer from a waterborne vessel, the method comprising:
securing a base to an inboard deck of the waterborne vessel, wherein the base is connected to a spacer arm and to a transducer arm, wherein the transducer arm is pivotably attached to the spacer arm at a pivot point;
providing an instrument having a display unit and a transducer, wherein the display unit is disposed on the base;
fastening the transducer to an end of the transducer arm opposite a portion of the transducer arm attached to the spacer arm;
moving the spacer arm with respect to the base member from a stored position, in which a distal end of the spacer arm and the pivot point are inboard the vessel, to a deployed position, in which the distal end and the pivot point are outboard the vessel while the base remains mounted inboard the vessel; and
swinging the transducer arm about the pivot point to rotate the transducer arm from a stored position to a deployed position;
wherein the transducer arm is parallel to or collinear with the spacer arm when the transducer arm is in the stored position; and
wherein the transducer is positioned underwater when the transducer arm is in the deployed position.
1. An apparatus for mounting equipment on a waterborne vessel, the apparatus comprising:
a base member;
an elongate spacer arm connected to the base member, the elongate spacer arm comprising:
a base member end configured to connect to the base member; and
a distal end opposite the base member end;
wherein the length of the spacer arm is at least sufficient for the distal end to reach a gunwale of the vessel when the base member is mounted inboard the vessel;
and
a selectively deployable elongate transducer arm pivotably coupled to the spacer arm, the elongate transducer arm comprising:
a proximal end configured to pivotably connect to the distal end of the spacer arm at a pivot point; and
a transducer end opposite the proximal end, the transducer end being configured to attach to a transducer;
wherein the transducer arm is configured to pivot between a deployed position and a stored position; and
wherein the length of the transducer arm is at least sufficient for the transducer end to reach the water surface when the transducer arm is in the deployed position;
wherein the spacer arm is substantially parallel to or collinear with the transducer arm when the transducer arm is in the stored position, allowing the apparatus to be folded for compact storage; and
wherein the spacer arm is movable with respect to the base member such that, when the spacer arm is in a stored position, the distal end and the pivot point are inboard the vessel and, when the spacer arm is in a deployed position, the distal end and the pivot point are outboard the vessel while the base member remains mounted inboard the vessel.
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This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/123,129, entitled “EQUIPMENT MOUNT FOR WATERBORNE VESSELS,” filed Apr. 4, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to waterborne vessel accessories, and more particularly, to mounts configured to deploy underwater marine detection equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
Operators of waterborne vessels sometimes wish to attach equipment such as navigation instruments and/or safety instruments to their watercraft. Some types of equipment have parts that need to be submerged in order to function properly. For example, a fish finder is a type of echo sounding system that uses an underwater transducer known as a hydrophone to detect the position of fish underneath the surface of the water. One technique that fishing enthusiasts have used to attach the hydrophone to the craft in the past has included gluing the hydrophone to the underside of the hull. Existing techniques for deploying underwater marine detection equipment from a watercraft suffer from various drawbacks.
Embodiments described herein have several features, no single one of which is solely responsible for their desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the invention as expressed by the claims, some of the advantageous features will now be discussed briefly.
In some embodiments, an apparatus for mounting equipment on a waterborne vessel includes a base member configured to support an instrument. An elongate spacer arm is connected to the base member. The elongate spacer arm includes a base member end configured to connect to the base member and a distal end opposite the base member end. The length of the spacer arm is at least sufficient for the distal end to reach an outside edge of the vessel when the base member is mounted on the vessel. A selectively deployable elongate transducer arm is pivotably coupled to the spacer arm. The elongate transducer arm includes a proximal end configured to pivotably connect to the distal end of the spacer arm and a transducer end opposite the proximal end. The transducer end is configured to attach to a transducer. The transducer arm is configured to pivot between a deployed position and a stored position. The length of the transducer arm is at least sufficient for the transducer end to reach the water surface when the transducer arm is in the deployed position. The spacer arm is substantially parallel to or collinear with the transducer arm when the transducer arm is in the stored position, allowing the apparatus to be folded for compact storage.
Additional embodiments provide a method of using an equipment mount to deploy a transducer from a waterborne vessel. The method includes securing a base to a deck of the waterborne vessel. The base is connected to a spacer arm and a transducer arm that is pivotably attached to the spacer arm. The method further includes providing an instrument having a display unit and a transducer, placing the display unit on the base, fastening the transducer to an end of the transducer arm opposite a portion of the transducer arm attached to the spacer arm, and swinging the transducer arm to rotate the transducer arm from a stored position to a deployed position. The transducer arm is parallel to or collinear with the spacer arm when the transducer arm is in the stored position. The transducer is positioned underwater when the transducer arm is in the deployed position.
The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit the scope of the claims.
Although certain preferred embodiments and examples are disclosed herein, inventive subject matter extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the inventions, and to modifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, the scope of the inventions herein disclosed is not limited by any of the particular embodiments described below. For example, in any method or process disclosed herein, the acts or operations of the method or process may be performed in any suitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particular disclosed sequence.
For purposes of contrasting various embodiments with the prior art, certain aspects and advantages of these embodiments are described. Not necessarily all such aspects or advantages are achieved by any particular embodiment. Thus, for example, various embodiments may be carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other aspects or advantages as may also be taught or suggested herein. While some of the embodiments are discussed in the context of particular varieties or designs of waterborne vessels, it is understood that the inventions may be used with other types of watercraft. Furthermore, while some of the embodiments are discussed in the context of particular types of equipment, such as fish finders, it is recognized that the inventions may be used with other types of equipment that can be deployed underwater.
As interest in fishing from small watercraft, such as kayaks, has increased, fishing enthusiasts have sought to attach fishing equipment, including electronic devices, to their small craft. Some types of equipment, such as fish finders, have parts that need to be submerged in order to function properly. For example, a hydrophone may not function properly if it is not underwater. Installing such equipment on kayaks has proven problematic. For example, gluing the hydrophone to the underside of the hull may result in the hydrophone being difficult to remove and exposed to risk of damage.
In some embodiments, an equipment mount is configured to rest on or attach to a top surface of the deck of a watercraft. The equipment mount can include a platform configured to support an instrument, such a fish finder display. A first elongate member, known, for example, as a spacer arm or an offset arm, can be connected to the platform. In some embodiments, the spacer arm has a length sufficient to reach from the platform to beyond an outer edge of the watercraft, such as, for example, the craft's gunwale. The spacer arm can be pivotably coupled to a first end of a second member, known as a transducer arm or a deployment arm, for example, to form a pivoting deployment arm. In some embodiments, the deployment arm has a length sufficient so that a transducer fixed to a second opposite end of the transducer arm can reach the surface of the water when deployed. By swinging the transducer arm, a user can selectively fold the equipment mount for compact storage or deploy the transducer into the water.
In the embodiment shown in
In the embodiment shown in
The transducer arm 114 includes one or more apertures 116 positioned and sized to allow the spacer arm 108 to be connected to the transducer arm 114, for example, via aperture 112. One or more fasteners 122 can be used to attach the transducer arm 114 to the spacer arm 108. As shown in
In some embodiments, the mounting apparatus 200 can have additional features that contribute to the compactness of its design. For example, the transducer arm 114 and/or the spacer arm 108 can include telescoping portions such that the length and/or width of the mounting apparatus is further decreased when the arms 108, 114 are stored. In some embodiments, the transducer arm 114 and/or the spacer arm 108 include multiple segments connected by bendable joints, allowing the arms 108, 114 to be folded one or more times. In some embodiments, the transducer arm 114 is collinear with the spacer arm 108 in the folded position. For example, the transducer arm 114 can be rotated such that it is in a position collinear with the spacer arm 108, and then one or more telescoping or folding portions of the spacer arm 108 and/or transducer arm 114 can be collapsed. In certain embodiments, at least one of the spacer arm 108 and the transducer arm 114 is configured to telescope so as to have an adjustable length.
In some embodiments, the mounting apparatus 100 and fish finder apparatus 500 connected thereto are removable as a unit from the kayak 600. The mounting apparatus 100 and/or fish finder apparatus 500 can be folded into a stored position for compact storage. The compact stored unit can is easily reinstalled. In some embodiments, the unit can also be easily moved and secured to another watercraft in a minimal amount of time. The mounting apparatus 100 preferably allows the fish finder apparatus 500 to be speedily installed and uninstalled on a craft. In some embodiments, the process of installation and uninstallation of the fish finder apparatus 500 on a craft is significantly faster with the mounting apparatus 100 than without.
In the embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, the spacer arm 108 pivots freely about an axis of rotation coaxial with the elongate axis of the connector 1208. In some embodiments, the spacer arm 108 is connected to the base 1202 such that a suitable amount of friction holds the spacer arm in a position determined by an operator of the mounting apparatus 1200. For example, a certain amount of force may be required to pivot the spacer arm 108, such as an amount that could be reasonably manually supplied by the operator of the apparatus 1200. When the operator stops pushing on the spacer arm 108, the arm 108 can stay in the place where the operator left it.
The spacer arm 108 is pivotably connected to a transducer arm 114. In the embodiment shown in
In the embodiment shown in
Some embodiments provide a method of using an equipment mount to deploy a transducer from a waterborne vessel. The method can include securing a base to a deck of the waterborne vessel. The base can be connected to a spacer arm, and a transducer arm can be pivotably attached to the spacer arm. The method can further include providing an instrument having a display unit and a transducer. The display unit can be disposed on the base. The method can include fastening the transducer to an end of the transducer arm opposite a portion of the transducer arm attached to the spacer arm and swinging the transducer arm to rotate the transducer arm from a stored position to a deployed position. In certain embodiments, the transducer arm is parallel to or collinear with the spacer arm when the transducer arm is in the stored position. The transducer is positioned underwater when the transducer arm is in the deployed position.
In some embodiments, an operator of the equipment mount can point the transducer in a desired direction. For example, the operator can select a measurement direction for the transducer by adjusting the deployment angle of the transducer arm. The measurement direction for the transducer can also be selected by adjusting the spacer arm angle of the spacer arm. In certain embodiments, the spacer arm can be stored by rotating the spacer arm into a longitudinal position with respect to the waterborne vessel and securing the spacer arm in the longitudinal position.
Reference throughout this specification to “some embodiments,” “certain embodiments,” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least some embodiments. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in some embodiments” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment and may refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.
As used in this application, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.
Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the above description of embodiments, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that any claim require more features than are expressly recited in that claim. Rather, inventive aspects lie in a combination of fewer than all features of any single foregoing disclosed embodiment.
Although the inventions presented herein have been disclosed in the context of certain preferred embodiments and examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the inventions extend beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments to other alternative embodiments and/or uses of the inventions and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the inventions herein disclosed should not be limited by the particular embodiments described above.
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